Newspapers vendors in Plateau State have decried constant harassment, intimidation and seizure of newspapers by the Jos Metropolitan Development Board (JMDB).
Daily Trust reports that JMDB had recently banned roadside business around Terminus Market.
Malam Muhammad Sani Mahmud, a veteran newspaper vendor, said his colleagues were intimidated by the JMDB taskforce on Friday.
He said, “We are subjected to series of harassments, intimidation, and sometimes even seizure of our papers. This morning, the taskforce met me standing, harassed me, and told me to vacate the place. All newspaper stands within the Jos metro area have been dismantled by the taskforce.
“Despite the JMDB taskforce pushing us out of our business places, no alternative was provided. We are losing customers since we have been pushed away. People who want to buy papers can’t find us, and our means of livelihood has been taken away.”
Another vendor, Malam Sale Yaro, stated that the constant harassment by the taskforce posed a significant threat to their business.
He recalled an incident where the taskforce intercepted one of his colleagues, Malam Saidu, along Old Bukur Park and confiscated all the newspapers he had collected from major distributors for sale.
“We tried all we could to ensure they returned those newspapers, but they refused, and that was how he lost them,” he said.
Several calls and a text message were sent to the General Manager of the Jos Metropolitan Development Board, Arch. Hart Bankat, on the issue but he was yet to respond at the time of filing this report.
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